Walking into the glass doors of the church, you could see a small collection of people sitting and listening to a man talking. As he talked, there were about six or seven more men and women standing silently behind him wearing t-shirts that said NEC. Those letters on the shirt, which could be seen worn by the speaker and a couple more people around the church is the acronym for their group which is called New Era Chicago. Throughout the time I heard him talk, the speaker never mentioned his name; but his face was the most recognizable from a video that went viral a few days before. I later found out his name is Ronnie Man Hatcher, 42 and that viral video was footage of him and his group forming a human wall around the perimeters of a Chicago gas station preventing cars from entering. “We about to shut this muthafucker down!” Hatcher screamed through a megaphone after exiting the gas station back on the street. He defended his profanity tirade while talking in the church by saying “you have to know your audience.” He continued by saying “these young people hear cursing on the T.V, radio and movies all the time; you can’t walk up to these young brothers standing on the block and be like we shall overcome.”
The New Era Chicago is the Chicago chapter of an organization called New Era Detroit. A look on the organization’s website explained the groups purpose.
New Era Detroit (NED) is an organization formed to bring back Black unity within growing Black communities. Our focus is empowering and encouraging Black residents in the city of Detroit and around the world to buy, build, invest & get involved in the communities that they live in. The city of Detroit has a population of under 700,000 residents, 82.7% of which are Black yet our communities are overran by businesses that are not owned by the people living in these communities or in most cases business owners who are not even residents of the city of Detroit & contribute little to nothing to the neighborhoods in which their businesses thrive in.
With NED our focus is clear, investing in the communities that we already live in by unifying, becoming conscious of our environment, building an environment that actually benefits the people living in it (building and supporting Black owned business, opening Black schools with our own curriculum, opening Black banks, funding our own political parties so that we are able to elect real leadership that represents the majority, taking back our liquor stores and gas stations, helping and supporting the people in our community that need help, and overall becoming independently responsible for ourselves).
The city of Detroit is going through a rebuilding stage & this is the perfect city for Black people all over the world to invest in, property values here are some of the lowest in the country right now! This city was made for 2 million people with under 700,000 occupying it. Do the math: that’s roughly 1.3 million unoccupied houses, businesses, schools, etc. that are waiting to be reclaimed. We understand that this is an opportunity that we must take advantage of and that’s what we plan to do. With the help of like-minded people working together and building as one we will succeed! “One man, One woman, One child, One Community at a time until we are One UNITED Race!”
Hatcher emphasized that the Chicago chapter was about “Black Pride and Black Unity” throughout his speech. He also explained that the some of the problems in the Black community could be solved by the people. “We believe we have enough resources in our community to open our own grocery store and gas station,” he said. In addition to their purpose, he also explained their programs which included Rekia’s Ride; a program aimed to feed the poor and hungry. A more in depth explanation about Rekia’s Ride was given by one of the members in the video below.
The meeting was promoted on social media with a schedule start of 6:30 and lasted until about 8:45 pm. I arrived late but was still was able to get some key points and objectives of the groups goals. There was a Q &A session after the lecture which was positive with the exception of a couple people who question the groups ideas and approach. “One thing we not going to do here is debate” Ronnie Hatcher said to those people. In the end, the positive vibes spilled out to the church parking lot. There the people continue to converse and take pictures amongst each other. In all it seems the group has a sincere and genuine platform to give back to the people in the community. “All of us up here are ordinary people who just care and love our brothers and sisters.” Hatcher reminded the people at the meeting. For more information about New Era Chicago, click on to the links below. To see more photos and footage from this event follow us Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.
NEC Website: http://chicago.neweradetroit.org/
NEC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newerachicago/?pnref=story
NED Website: http://neweradetroit.com/